Once again, President Rodrigo Duterte told in his speech at the convention of new political party Hugpong Pagbabago of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte that the United State’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wanted him dead.
Duterte went on, “Nakatingin ako sa TV dahil gusto kong i-emphasize sa mga Amerikano. May mga CIA ngayon. Ang balita gusto nila akong patayin. Go ahead…be my guest…after all, this country will remain the way it is. Kaya pag pumutok ang helicopter ko dyan, sila yan.”
Duterte also trained his gun on US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs Randall Schriver, who is in Manila for a two-day visit when he was warned about buying military equipment like submarines from Russia.
“Who are you to warn us? You meet me in a forum and I will invite everybody interested. You state your case why you are against my country acquiring submarines. Give me the reasons why and make it public. You want us to remain backwards”, Duterte said and obviously referring to Schriver.
The President said only the Philippines has no submarines while Vietnam has seven; Malaysia, two; and Indonesia, eight.
He explained his frustration further, “You sold us used refurbished helicopters. Just like American transactions, nakiki-alam ang mga brokers ninyo [Your brokers are meddling]. You sold us six helicopters…one or two or three crashed already… killing the last one all the crew members. Is that the way how you treat your allies? And you want us to stay with you at all times?”
Then he added, “Think about it? Why did you not stop the other countries in Asia? Why are you stopping us. If you would give us, that will implode. Explosion will come from the inside”.
Duterte, however clarified that Philippines is not the enemy of America.
In closing he said, “I am just protecting my soldiers and police. What’s the problem of acquiring submarines? We are not using it against you…Neither can we use it against China or anybody else because we are under armed.”
